Toitū Te Whenua holds historic Crown property paper files from its predecessor organisations, such as the Department of Survey & Land Information (DoSLI), Department of Lands and Survey, and the Ministry of Works.
The files date back to the 1850s for all Crown property – some of which is held in title, much of it not.
These files are mostly used when Crown agencies are acquiring or disposing of land. Accredited suppliers working on behalf of those organisations can access the paper files through the ELFI database:
Requests for Crown Property files
Historic Crown property paper files are not generally available to the public, however requests can be made to Toitū Te Whenua for information. For example, you might wish to research your family’s connection with land that is or was once owned by the Crown.
Some other Crown property paper files are held by Archives New Zealand.
Archives New Zealand – Collections search
Note that the Crown property paper files have information about acquisition and transfer of land to and from the Crown. The records don’t include information about activities that have been carried out on the land while it was in Crown ownership.
If you are looking for information about land held by the Crown for a particular purpose, for example, a school, try the Crown agency that governs that activity. For example, information on schools may be available from the Ministry of Education or Archives New Zealand.
Contact us to request files
Contact our Customer Support on 0800 665 463 to find out if you can request Crown Property files.